GNN Podcast: THE ‘QUIET CHERNOBYL’: THE ARAL SEA

Prior to the 1960s, the Aral Sea was the world’s fourth largest lake and approximately the size of Ireland. Fed by both the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers carrying snowmelt from the mountains to the southeast, the Aral Sea moderated the climate and provided a robust fishing industry that straddled the present-day border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. For the map savvy, that Aral Sea would be almost unrecognizable more…